An alleged Palestinian shooting attack in the northern occupied West Bank killed two women and seriously wounded another, Israeli medics said.

The latest violence came after Israeli warplanes struck southern Lebanon in a significant escalation.

Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said that two women in their 20s were killed and another woman in her 40s was seriously wounded near the settlement of Hamra in the Jordan Valley.

The Israeli military said security forces were searching for the attacker.

The shooting follows months of unusually heightened violence in the occupied West Bank and comes just hours after Israeli warplanes struck targets in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.